Second Chances
by oh-the-linsanity
Summary: When Naruto and Hinata die unexpectedly, their son is left in Sakura's care. "What did I tell you about calling me Auntie? It makes me feel old." "But you are old." "You little brat."


Second Chances

Hibiki Uzumaki grew accustomed to waiting for his aunt.

The first few weeks, she was_ never_ late. At first he thought she might not have even left; she would be in the same spot where she'd wait for him to go inside—right under the cherry tree on the other side of the academy. And she'd be sitting there, reading a book, filing her nails, making a chain of flowers to put in her already flowery colored hair. But her record didn't last. The first day she was late, she blamed paperwork.. The second, a kid was threatening to start the Fifth Great Ninja War if she didn't give him a B Class mission. But the excuses became vague until they disappeared entirely, and Sakura Haruno was never on time again, just like her good old sensei. Hibiki didn't mind though; he always had something to do—practice molding chakra, reading one of Sakura's medical books, or simply watching the clouds go by. Sometimes it was only ten minutes, sometimes an hour, and sometimes too long for him to wait any longer and he'd walk home by himself. But Sakura always showed up—even if he had already gone home. Sometimes he'd be on the couch, napping, when she'd walk in and dangle dinner in his face, and apologetic smile on her face. And others, he waited, and they went and got dinner.

Tonight, he really wanted ramen, hence the waiting.

When Hibiki finally saw her, the sky was hued the same bright pink as her hair, the horizon bleeding a deep orange. She had that soft smile, complete with glittering green eyes. "Hey, kiddo! Sorry I'm late, I—"

The boy shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, and he meant it. He had managed to read an interesting thing about chakra reserves while he waited. Sakura, however, just pouted.

"Whoa now, I had a really good excuse, you should at least hear me out!" she argued.

"You're not gonna say you lost track of time looking at paint samples again, are you?"

She scoffed. "Who do I look like to you, Kakashi-sensei? I can come up with better excuses than that." she leaned down and jabbed her finger into his shoulder. "And that really happened, you know. Deciding what color to paint the kitchen was a delicate process."

Hibiki grinned. "You haven't even painted, Auntie!"

She took his outstretched hand and gave it a squeeze before the two of them walked down the dirt path to their favorite ramen stand. "What did I tell you about calling me Auntie?"

"That it makes you feel old," Hibiki recalled instantly. "But Sakura—"

"What?"

"You _are _old."

"You little _brat_." and with that, she scooped up the eight year old kid and threw him over her shoulder. Laughter betrayed his protests as he pounded into her back. "Put me down!" he begged.

"Keep that up, you're getting a nasty knot out." she quipped. Townspeople passing by recognized the duo and smiled at their usual antics.

"Sa-ku-ra!"

"What? I can't hear you! You'll have to forgive me, my hearing isn't so good in my old age," she lamented, but the boy just kicked and pushed harder. "Ooh, you've been getting stronger," she grunted, finally setting him down when they were in front of the ramen stand. "I'll have to keep that in mind." She drew back the curtain and allowed him first go, but he just stood there, arms crossed, lips in a jutted pout. "Don't be like that, squirt. Look, ramen!"

"Don't call me squirt," he grumbled, holding his nose high in defiance. "I'm not a little kid anymore."

Sakura's mouth fell in a soft "O" before she shared a look with Ayame at the stand. "Of course not. You're a growing young man. But I needed payback for the Auntie jab," she said, poking him in the shoulder again. "You understand, don't you? Big kids always do."

Slowly, his posture relaxed. "I 'spose."

"So understanding of you. Now, come on, let's get us some grub."

He bounced back like he normally did and crawled up on the bar stool. "Can I get two bowls?"

"Two?" Sakura asked, sliding next to him.

"I'm a growing boy!"

"Finish the first bowl, and if you want another, we'll talk. Fair?" the boy nodded enthusiastically. In minutes, their meal was in front of them, and Hibiki dug in with all the exuberance his father did when he ate ramen. "Hey, Hibiki?"

He looked up and waited.

"—I really am sorry I was late."

The boy smiled, every movement soft and gentle, just like his mother. "It's okay! I don't mind. I get to read and study and practice. And besides—you always show up eventually."

He got that second bowl—and Sakura knew he would.

* * *

_Sakura shook her head in disbelief, tears glossing her eyes. "Are you sure?"_

_Tsunade wouldn't look at her, and Sakura for one couldn't blame her. All those years of holding her head strong, telling people their children were dead, their parents were dead, their wives and husbands were dead, Sakura was surprised she hadn't broken earlier. But here she was, frailer with age and the burdens of the village on her shoulders and she couldn't look Sakura in eye. "…We've retrieved Hinata's body."_

_The room was silent, but the two could both hear Sakura's sharp intake of breath._

_"A-and, Naruto…?"_

_Not a word. __Tsunade didn't have the heart to say it._

_"We can't stall any longer. I agreed to be acting Hokage until he returned, but it looks like," she paused. "that won't be the case. We looked into some of Naruto's notes to see if he had made any recommendations for replacements if something like this were to occur—he's made his recommendation clear."_

_Sakura waited._

_"…he wants, you, Sakura."_

_She felt tears slide down her cheeks and under her chin, but she still did not sob. "M-me? Why would he want me to be Hokage? Kakashi is stronger, Shikamaru is smarter—"_

_"Sakura. For him…it had always been you."_

_"That isn't true."_

_Tsuande pulled out the adoption forms. "Sometimes, I think it really was."_

* * *

"Lunch is almost ready! Hurry up and wash up, otherwise—"

"Can I be a medic?"

Sakura looked up from the stove and regarded Hibiki aberrantly. "You're more than capable. Is that what you want to do?"

Hibiki shrugged. He stood on the tips of his toes and tried to peek into the pot—she wouldn't tell him what soup she was making which meant it probably had something in it he didn't like. "I don't know. I've been reading all your medical books, and it seems pretty cool."

"How many did you read?" she asked, tasting the soup. Too spicy, but it'd have to do.

"…a lot."

"Did you _understand_ them?" she elaborated.

"…some of them!"

Sakura laughed, moving the pot off the stove. "Thought that might be the case." she reached in the cabinet and got two bowls before she filled them both up and set the table for lunch. She poured them each some water and waited for him to join her at the small table in the middle of the kitchen. "This isn't going to be like the time you wanted to do puppetry, is it?" she handed him a napkin.

Hibiki pulled a face. "No, I'm being serious this time!"

Sakura smirked. "You said that last time!" she sung teasingly, taking a sip of soup. "You had me actually considering asking Kankuro to come over here."

The young boy pouted. "I was just asking. If you don't think I can do it, just say so." he grumbled.

Sakura sobered. "Now, I didn't say that. I just said you were more than capable, did I not?" she reached across the table and pinched his nose. "It's okay to start thinking about these things. You'll finish the academy in a year or two and then you can start deciding what kind of ninja you'll want to be."

Hibiki swatted her hand away, going back to his lunch. "How will I know?"

She smiled. "You'll know—and you'll _tell _me. You won't ask. Get it? And who knows—maybe you can take this Hokage job off my hands."

He grinned from ear to ear—now that he understood.

"Bleh, this has mushrooms!"

"Aha! My distraction was a success!"

"Sakura!"

* * *

_"S-Sakura-chan…?"_

_"I'm sorry," she whispered, her hands shaking out of fear. She looked down at Sasuke's cold lifeless body in her arms and watched as tears landed on her face. "I'm so sorry."_

_"Why did you go off and look for him? I gave you direct orders to wait for back-up, to wait for _me!" _His shock was melting away into anger, and fast. "You—you killed him Sakura. You loved him and…you killed him!"_

_"I love you more, idiot, don't you know that?" she hissed. "You know what he's been up to, the reports you've gotten over the past few years. I was afraid of what he might do. He was so close, a mile away from the town we were in, I had to go and see him and talk to him, I had to try and bring him back—"_

_"Because going after him alone worked so well last time—if it wasn't for me, you'd be dead! We were supposed to do this together! It was your idea!"_

_"Exactly!" She hissed. "He's tried to kill you, and me _multiple times. _He is a rogue ninja. Dangerous. I was doing my duty."_

_"No," Naruto growled, stepping forward to take his fallen comrade from her. "You went against orders. _My_ orders." Without another word he turned his back to her, Sasuke in his arms, and headed to the morgue. The afternoon sky hissed with rain and cracked with lightning and thunder. _

_"He gave up!" she shouted over the rain._

_Naruto stopped, back still to her._

_"I didn't go there to kill him. And while I'm strong, I'm not as strong as he is. He should have killed me—could have killed me. But that last punch—he should have gotten out of the way, moved just a little bit…he should have moved, any ninja would have moved, Naruto! But he just stood there and took it! I—I crushed his ribs and his heart burst and-" she paused. "He gave up, Naruto. He let me kill him…I think he wanted to die."_

_Naruto didn't say anything, but the thunder did nothing to mask his screams._

* * *

Hibiki ran into Sakura's room at full speed as soon as the sun was up. "Get up, get up! We have to get up!"

"Mmm, five more minutes."

"No! We're already late, you have to get up!"

Sakura grunted when he jumped on her bed, his foot digging into her side. A messy clump of black hair got in her eyes. "I hear you, short-stuff, now _get off." _He did as told and scooted to the side of the bed, where he wrapped himself in her blankets. "Your room is cold," he whined before his face lit up with mischief. "You really are cold-blooded, huh?"

She smacked him upside the head. "No, dumbass, then the room would have to be warm," she corrected.

"You called me a bad word!"

Sakura leaned up and stretched, fighting a snicker at the look on Hibiki's face when she popped her joints. "I call you plenty of bad words—just usually not to your face."

"Hey!" he shouted, jumping on her back. With her ninja reactions she caught him easily, and his grumpy mood melted away into boisterous laughter as Sakura ran with chakra induced speed across the house, he on her back. "Okay, okay, put me down!" he laughed, and she finally did when they made it to the kitchen. "You do that a lot, Sakura-chan."

"Do what?" she asked, looking for her shoes by the door.

"Pick me up."

Sakura shrugged, grabbing her sandals. "So? Do you not like it?" she added as an afterthought.

"You didn't do it before."

She whipped her head around so fast, her neck cracked. "Huh?"

Hibiki looked down at his feet. "Dad used to do that to me."

Sakura tore her eyes away from his—sometimes they looked so familiar, bright blue like his father's. "I hadn't noticed," she coughed and tossed the kid his own pair of shoes. "Come on, let's get going."

The two walked down the streets of Konoha hand in hand. Hibiki skipped, swinging Sakura's hand wildly about, but she didn't mind. The early morning air was crisp and cool, and the streets were desolate, save for the street vendors on the sides setting up their stands and night shift workers leaving diners and bars. When they walked into the Yamanaka flower shop, the sun was up, a bright sunny color, just like the shop keeper's hair.

"Hey there!" she squealed. "How's my favorite little man?"

"Hello, Ino-chan!" he greeted enthusiastically. "Happy Mother's Day!"

Ino's smile deflated into something sadder. "Thank you, baby."

He began looking through the flowers and asked. "Ne, is Kiku awake?"

Ino snorted and Sakura bit back the snide comment about how it sounded just like a pig. "Night Owl, that thing. Drives me nuts. She probably won't be up for another few hours." Hibiki grinned, before he ran back over to the doorway, where Sakura was just standing. "What kind of flowers should we get?"

Sakura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Your parents both really loved flowers, all kinds. But I think Hinata preferred daisies, and your father—"

_"Ne, Sakura-chan look at all the cherry blossoms!"_

_"Mhm, they're very lovely."_

_"I love them! they're my favorite flower!"_

_"…Really? How come?"_

_"They remind me of you."_

"—Sakura-chan?"

She looked down and saw Hibiki tugging at her clothes, a look of concern on his face. "You okay?" he asked quietly. She nodded and looked up, only to find Ino had a similar look on her face.

"Sorry, I just thought of something." her hand went up and started fingering through the boys hair. "Your dad would love anything you picked out, same with your mother. Go ahead, get how many of whatever you'd like." She squeezed his shoulder affectionately. The boy nodded and started looking through the flowers, trying to find some in orange and yellow, since it was his dad's favorite color. A few minutes later and Hibiki had a bouquet of daisies in one hand, and a bouquet of sunflowers in the other.

"Nice choices!" Ino approved, ringing them up.

"Yeah! They'll be bright and colorful on the stones!"

"Hey, do you mind grabbing us some tulip bulbs as well?" Sakura asked.

Ino grinned. "Those don't look very attractive on graves," she teased.

She pointed to Hibiki who grinned in return. "I'm going to try and fix Dad's garden!" he said proudly. Ino handed him the two bouquets and Sakura the tulip bulbs.

"Thanks, pig!" Sakura called out, waving goodbye as she held the door open for Hibiki.

"Hey, you're name calling again!" he cried.

"That's different. Ino _is _a pig."

Ino laughed. "Get out of here, Forehead!"

And just before the door closed completely she heard, "No arguments here. I could lease advertisement on this thing!"

* * *

_"Sakura-chan, you okay?"_

_"Hmm, huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."_

_"Rough day?"_

_"…yeah, I guess."_

_"Look, I was thinking maybe we could finally go get some ramen and talk?"_

_Pause. "There's nothing to talk about."_

_Sigh. "Sakura-chan, please! Look at you! You're skinny and pale as hell. You've got me giving you ANBU missions left and right. It's been two damn years since Sasuke died and we haven't talked since."_

_"We've talked tons of times; look, we're talking right now."_

_"You know what I mean."_

_"I'm fine, Naruto. What I did..well, it's done."_

_"Sakura-chan, I'm begging. We have to talk about this. Please, can we just talk about what happened in that fight?And then we'll have closure and it'll be fine. You can come over to dinner—Hinata will cook and you can meet your godson, just please-"_

_"Goodnight, Naruto."_

* * *

Hibiki would _not_ look at her. Nope. No way. It was too embarrassing.

Sakura stood in front of him, Hokage robes swaying in the wind. While Hibiki sat on the bench, arms crossed in a huff, Sakura had one hand over her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. "Hey, bud," she finally bit out. "Need a lift?"

He mumbled something she couldn't quite catch, but she swore she heard…well, a swear. A nasty habit he no doubt picked up from her. Hinata would have been mortified—Naruto, proud.

She crouched in front of her and put on her best poker face. "So, tell me the thrilling tale of how I got out of work early."

Hibiki groaned, but still didn't look at her—he took to staring at the interesting ground, with its patches of grass and various rocks. "I was at school. And we were practicing running up a tree."

"Ah," Sakura nodded. "I see. Not a very exciting story-can't outsell Jiraiya's books with that." she looked down and saw the ankle that had been hastily wrapped up in a bandage by the school medic. She probably dealt with a million of these a week, and figured since Sakura was Hibiki's guardian, she was more than capable of patching her own kid up. Why waste energy when the mighty Hokage could handle it—that was a lot of people's attitudes these days. Peace brought out laziness, not that she seemed to mind—neither did her assistant, the laziest of them all. She'd take peace and lazy bums over war any day. "Twisted ankle?"

"asdfjkl;"

"Could you translate that for me?"

"…the medic lady said it was a fracture."

That was a little surprising. "Fracture?" a bit of laughter came out when she asked, "Just how high up that tree where you?"

That got him to look at her. "The top!" he beamed, all embarrassment melting away. "First in my class to do it!" he puffed out his chest proudly.

She poked his shoulder. "Well good for you, little man! Just as strong as me; I'd expect nothing less from my dependent."

He eyed her curiously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means I pay less taxes each year so…thanks," she flashed him a grin before she turned around and slipped his arms around her neck and hoisted him on her back.

"The Hokage has to pay taxes?" Hibiki wondered aloud as Sakura headed down the dirt path away from the academy and back towards their home.

"Sucks, right? You'd think Naruto would have written that law away." she hoisted him higher on his back. "How's the ankle?"

"Hurts. Are you going to have to do that thing where you hold me down and move the bone like you did with my arm?"

"Set it?"

"Yeah that."

Sakura paused, trying to think of what to say. For lack of a good excuse, she chose to tell the truth. "Probably." He pushed his face into her back and let out a pathetic whine, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh. She gave his uninjured leg a good squeeze from where she had a hold on him. "Aw, it won't be so tough. Just like last time, 1, 2, 3 and then boom! All your bones are back where they should be."

"Sakura-chan, you never make it to three!" Hibiki cried in anguish.

"The anticipation makes the pain worsen, I'm _actually_ doing you a _favor_."

"Sakura-chaaaaan!"

Sakura slowed her pace to a lazy stroll, and Hibiki noticed. "What's with the 'Sakura-chan' lately?" she asked as casually as she could—she did a pretty good job.

But Hibiki felt a little hurt. Sakura had been taking care of him for over a year now, and they had gotten very close, as to be expected. When his parents died unexpectedly, Granny Tsuande told him that Sakura Haruno would be taking care of him, the woman his father had called his "Aunt Sakura". He had met her a few times, the so few she had been in town. His father said that Sakura was the top medic in the village, as well as an ANBU captain. She was always very busy, his father would say with a sad face, which is why she was never around much to say hello.

The few times he had hung out with Sakura, he found her to be much quieter than he expected. His father told him that Sakura was a boisterous personality, strong and a big mouth, just like him. "_She can destroy the ground with a flick of her finger! And don't even get me started on her right hook—it's why Daddy's nose is so crooked!" _But the Sakura he had met watched him over on Saturday afternoons, made him a cup of tea, and offered him tired smiles. He remembered back a few weeks before his parents death, he had asked him about Sakura—about why she was so much quieter and withdrawn than he had expected. Hibiki had expected denial, since Naruto always spoke so highly of Sakura, but instead he pulled him aside and gave him the saddest smile he'd ever seen.

_"Sakura-chan is sad."_

_"But you call her 'Sakura-chan'. Doesn't that mean your friends? Why would she be sad if you're her friend?"_

He never forgot the way his father cried.

Hibiki shook away the thoughts and buried his face into her back again, trying to dispel the tears. "I thought we were friends." he mumbled.

Sakura stopped walking and turned her head to look at him. "Of course we're friends," she whispered. "We're more than friends by now, don't you think?" He nodded slowly, face still in her back. "I was just wondering, Hibiki, that's all." she offered him a pleasant smile, which he didn't see due to his tear-soaked face pressed into her shirt. She started walking again, the sun setting and the silence pressing. The birds were chirping their lullabies and the sky was a deep blue.

Sakura sighed.

"You sound just like him," she said.

"Huh?" he mumbled, finally lifting his head from her back.

"The 'Sakura-chan.' You sound just like Naruto."

"…Really?" He liked being compared to his father, and Sakura knew this.

"Oh yeah. It's got that same ring to it," she said happily, and Hibiki grinned. "He was the only one that ever called me that—well, seriously, anyhow. Thirty years old, and he was still calling me that like we were twelve!" she laughed.

Hibiki used his good leg to kick her lightly. "Ne, that means you were best friends, right?"

Sakura adjusted her grip on him. "I suppose we were best friends, as kids at least. We were on the same squad, remember?"

Hibiki remembered. "What happened, then?"

Sakura let out a dramatic breath, flapping her lips in a silly manner. He patiently awaited her answer, and he figured she was planning out this drawn out speech thing, but instead she whispered, "We got old."

"So you _are _old."

"Watch it," she growled, but a smile bloomed on her face regardless. Trust this kid to take any saddening situation and try to turn it around.

Hibiki slumped a bit, and Sakura gripped him tighter and scooted him higher back up so he wouldn't fall. "I think he missed you," He whispered.

"…I think I missed him too."

When they got home, Sakura put him on the couch before she started a pot for ramen. She figured his favorite food would make up for setting his leg and the tedious process of healing everything else he might have damaged when he tried to "walk it off" as Iruka had noted when she got the call at her office. When the healing was all done with ("You promised you'd do it on three this time!" "What can I say, doctors always lie!") she sent him to shower before she tucked him into bed.

"Sakura-chan?" he asked, snuggling in his bed.

She smiled at him, and he grinned back, beaming—it was okay. "Mhm?" she mumbled absently, tucking the blanket tight around him.

"You're not sad anymore."

She arched a single brow. "What do you mean?"

He yawned and rubbed his eye. "You're…different. You're happy, right?"

Sakura laughed a throaty laugh, and he could feel the vibrations of her happiness when she leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead—the first of many more to come, as he would learn. "I am." She ruffled his hair. "But I'd be happier if you didn't fall out of trees and make me clean up the mess."

"You said the Hokage's job was cleaning up messes—Shikamaru says you're basically a fancy janitor."

She threw her head back and laughed—hair in her face, tears in her eyes kind of laugh. "Did he really? I don't feel so bad about making him take notes for me during that meeting I ditched anymore." She gave him a pinch on the cheek before she started heading out, when a question popped in his mind. "…Did I make you happy?" he asked.

Sakura leaned against the doorway, and crossed her arms across her chest. She thought of her life before Hibiki—drowning silences, dangerous missions, and a lonely life. She had spent more days covered in blood and grime than she did clean, and she shuddered to think about how many bloodied gloves she threw out just because the stench wouldn't leave.

Sakura and Naruto. Naruto and Sakura. They were always together, for better or for worse. But all the missions, all the blood, all the people that died at their hands, it took its toll—especially Sasuke's death. She saw the hurt in his eyes as she pulled away from him; she was his best friend, his most precious person. But Sakura couldn't handle it. He still thought she loved Sasuke more, and that's what hurt most of all. She was always going to be the girl who lied to herself, she supposed. But now he was lying to himself.

To be honest, the both of them didn't know what to do after she'd killed Sasuke.

So best friends digressed into acquaintances. She still fixed him up at the hospital, still remained one of his advisors and body guards, but nothing was really the same. He married and had a kid—she stayed alone.

But his and Hinata's death changed everything. His son, little raven-haired, blue-eyed Hibiki, was so much like him. More level-headed and quiet like his mother, but he had the same grin, the same laugh, the same stubborn attitude. And Sakura couldn't bear to mess it up a second time; so she learned how to cook, how to garden, and learned how to be a parent. And along the way, tired smiles became joyous ones, and laughs grew louder and louder. She was changing, and she noticed—she had to, for Hibiki. She was his guardian, essentially his parent, and she didn't want to mess up their relationship like she did with hers and Naruto's. But she was still new to this thing. So whenever Hibiki was sad or lonely, when he was feeling down or maybe elated and Sakura didn't know how to react, she had one little trick:

She just did whatever Naruto did for her. And it always worked.

She stood up straight, finger on the light switch. "Don't ask questions you know the answer to. Smart-ass " she smiled in the dark of night, but Hibiki heard the grin in her voice.

"Sakura-chan also got meaner!" he sung, completely teasing.

"I've always been this mean. Ask anyone. Now go to sleep. Want to make sure you're nice and rested before you go and break that ankle again climbing another damn tree."

"I will _not!"_

Sakura scoffed. "We'll see."

Hibiki snuggled in his bed and let out another yawn. "I'm glad," _yawn. _"My parents left me with you." he whispered tiredly before she closed the door.

A faint smile on her face, Sakura slid down the door and settled on the ground in the hallway. She looked up at the photos framed along the wall—A picture of her and Naruto with noodles up their noses proudly stood out in the middle.

"Me too, kid," she whispered.

Even when Naruto wasn't here, he was still saving her.

.

_"Sakura-chan! Guess what?"_

_"What, Hibiki?"_

_"I decided."_

_"Decided what?"_

_I'm going to be the Hokage! the best Hokage ever!_

_ "…oh boy."_

_._

_fin_

_._

Notes: *cracks fingers* Feels good to try something new! I haven't been able to find a good NaruSaku fic of any kind, so I decided to write one myself. Don't look at me. I still can't believe I wrote this damn thing in the first place.

((but feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought! opinions and comments are always appreciated, whatever they may be!))


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